south africa

Documentarian Pippa Ehrlich won an Oscar for My Octopus Teacher, a film about the connection between a human and a creature. Her new film Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey investigates another close tie, this time between a baby pangolin and his volunteer guardian Gareth Thomas. The stakes of their particular relationship are remarkably high. The film shows the strength of connection and power to heal that interactions between humans and creatures can bring. It also considers the circle of life in a practical and enlightened way, with the inclusion of Dr Caswell Munyai, who is an expert in invertebrate biology (including ants and termites!). Kulu eats only those two bugs, and a lot of them, but Munyai knows pangolins are an important part of South African’s ecosystem.

Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey, now on Netflix, is a revelatory look at one of oddest and most endangered mammals on earth. Most of us probably don’t know much if anything about the pangolin, an ancient creature that coexisted with dinosaurs and walks on hind legs like a tyrannosaur rex and feeds solely on ants and termites with its long, whip-like tongue. Pangolins are in danger of extinction since they are highly trafficked by poachers for the scales that cover their bodies which are used for a variety of Chinese medicines. The pangolin is particularly vulnerable because although it has acute hearing it has poor eyesight and no vocal cords. Its only defense is to curl itself into a ball.